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China hosts lavish reception for B.C. politicians

Jenny Kwan, the NDP MLA for Vancouver East, said she is neither surprised nor worried about China’s growing interest in local municipal governments

Photograph by: Jenelle Schneider Jenelle Schneider
, PNG

The Union of B.C. Municipalities convention, the annual get-together of locally-elected politicians, always attracts the interest of the provincial government.

It is a place where mayors and councillors can meet with cabinet ministers and deal with pressing issues face to face. If it isn’t done in closed-door meetings, it is done over drinks at the B.C. government’s evening reception.

But in a new and developing trend, the UBCM has also attracted the attention of a foreign senior government, the People’s Republic of China.

Hungry to broaden China’s business ties in B.C. and to build connections with local governments and associations that can facilitate those deals, China has taken the unusual step of hosting a lavish reception for elected politicians attending the UBCM convention, sponsored by upwards of three dozen Chinese businesses.

China’s new consul-general in Vancouver, Liu Fei, started the practice at last year’s UBCM in Victoria with a limited invitation to municipal mayors. But this year, she expanded the invitation to all delegates. No other foreign government has ever hosted a reception for UBCM delegates.

“It’s simple. We just want to get to know the local governments better,” said Kevin Gao, a spokesman for China’s consulate in Vancouver. “We try to know the mayors and councillors, and to establish a platform for Vancouver-based Chinese companies to do business with them.”

Bilateral relations between countries is nothing new. Neither is China’s interest in resource-rich B.C. Chinese companies are now heavily invested in forestry and mining operations, and China now represents B.C.’s largest export market behind the United States. Last year, B.C. directly exported more than $5.7 billion in products to China.

Although the direct appeal to local governments by the Chinese government is unusual, it comes at a time when Premier Christy Clark has renewed provincial interest in developing more trade with the Asia-Pacific region.

“We’re broadening our scope. We’re open to these kinds of things because it presents opportunities for economic development if the communities want to sell themselves,” said Mary Sjostrum, the president of the UBCM and Mayor of Quesnel. “For me, it is an opportunity for our communities — lots of them are not in the Lower Mainland — to connect with businesses that they might do business with.”

She said Fei considered hosting a UBCM reception last year after touring the province, including a stop in Barkerville and Quesnel.

Jenny Kwan, the NDP MLA for Vancouver East, said she is neither surprised nor worried about China’s growing interest in local municipal governments, which she said began when Fei arrived two years ago as the new consul-general.

“I think actually it is a very smart outreach and networking exercise,” Kwan said. “The consul’s office is like any other office in the sense you want to connect with the communities and find ways to have bilateral relations. I think the consul-general is using the capacity the UBCM offers for networking into the rest of the province that she doesn’t usually get to travel to.”

The efforts have already had positive benefits, Gao said. At last year’s inaugural reception, Abbotsford Mayor Bruce Banman invited Fei and other officials to attend the Abbotsford Air Show. Jin Zhuanglong, the chairman of Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China, attended and met with International Trade Minister Ed Fast to discuss business opportunities.

Gao said although China did not contribute aircraft to the show, it has invited Abbotsford officials to attend Airshow China’s large aerospace trade show in Zhuhai next year.

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